Blazers let another lead slip

When Nate McMillan walked into the Trail Blazers locker room after Wednesday's game, he went directly to the grease board at the front of the room and asked a question to his team:

Pointing at the middle of the board, McMillan asked what words had been written there before the game as a reminder.

Tumbleweeds might as well have blown through the locker room it was so quiet.

"No one remembered," center Joel Przybilla said.

So McMillan grabbed a blue pen and rewrote his pregame message:

48 min.

As in 48 minutes, the duration of an NBA game.

As has become their practice, the Trail Blazers on Wednesday once again failed to adhere to the tired clich of their coach to play a full game, this time wilting in the third quarter, leading to a 95-89 loss to Indiana in front of 16,168 at the Rose Garden.

It was the seventh loss in eight games for Portland (5-10), which held a seven-point lead early in the third quarter before it missed nine straight shots, propelling a 14-0 run by an Indiana team that was coming off an emotional win the night before in Denver.

By the time the ugly third quarter was over, the Blazers had missed 18 of 23 shots, scored just 13 points and watched the seven-point lead turn into a 67-59 deficit entering the fourth quarter.

"We let another one get away," Przybilla said.

The Blazers didn't roll over, however, starting the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run, which was punctuated by a three-pointer from Sergio Rodriguez that gave them a 72-69 lead.

But like so many times before in this losing rut, the Blazers down the stretch were seemingly a step slow to a loose ball, a tad short on a big three-pointer, and just not tough enough on defense. Indiana (8-8) scored on its final nine possessions, which helped secure its eighth straight win over the Blazers and its fourth straight at the Rose Garden.

"At halftime we thought they were getting tired," Przybilla said. "But we ended up looking like the team coming off a back-to-back."

A large part of the Blazers' recent woes has been the play of Brandon Roy, who struggled mightily from the field for the second straight game. Although Roy nearly had his first triple-double, finishing with 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, he shot 4-of-14 from the field, including 0-for-6 in a scoreless second half. In the past two games, Roy is 8-for-32 from the field, including a combined 1-for-12 in the second halves.

"The shots are there, I'm just missing them," Roy said. "It's not my mechanics, I think it has just become more mental than anything."

Several of Roy's misses were from point-blank range, including layins in traffic.

"I've never missed that many before," Roy said.

Even though Roy contributed in other ways, leading the team in rebounding, assists and steals (3), much of the team's offense is designed for him to carry the offensive load.

"Even though I was doing other things, this team needs me to score," Roy said. "I feel like the team is playing well enough for us to win, but I'm not putting us over the top."

With Roy off, McMillan turned to Travis Outlaw as his late-game go-to-guy, and the forward took advantage. Mired in a season-long shooting slump, Outlaw was a spark Wednesday, finishing with a season-high 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting. He scored 16 in the second half, and 12 in the fourth quarter.

But outside of Outlaw and LaMarcus Aldridge (22 points, nine rebounds), the Blazers were a collection of masons, laying one brick on top of another throughout the second half. The Blazers shot 17-of-49 (34.7 percent) in the second half.

"We didn't knock down shots - shots we are capable of knocking down," McMillan said flatly.

So now, a Blazers team that expected to be better than last season's 32-50 record, stands one game worse than it did at this time last season, and still with an unsettled rotation. Before the game, McMillan benched Channing Frye in favor of Raef LaFrentz, and continued to experiment with giving more time to Rodriguez (15 minutes).

Still, McMillan staunchly deflected any notion that this team is underachieving, pointing to a tough schedule and the now familiar explanation that this team is young and developing.

"This is the youngest team in the league, and history has shown that youth, rebuilding, it's tough to win games,"McMillan said. "So no, I wouldn't say we are underachieving."

They just aren't playing for 48 minutes.

Notes: The Blazers are 1-6 against the Eastern Conference, including six straight losses ... Up next are road games at Dallas, San Antonio and Memphis. The Blazers are 0-7 on the road this season ... LaFrentz played four minutes, missing both of his shots and grabbing an offensive rebound. He replaced Frye in the rotation after Frye posted averages of 6.1 points and 3.8 rebounds. "It's not that I'm disappointed (in Frye), it's just that I want more," McMillan said. "Right now, we just need to try something different ... I don't know how long we will go this way - it could be a game, it could be a half, it could be a few games. But I told (Frye) it wasn't necessarily a punishment, we just need more." ... Former Jesuit High star Mike Dunleavy had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana and center Jeff Foster grabbed 17 rebounds, eight offensive ... Blazers rookie Taurean Green celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday.